Insight Hour with Joseph Goldstein

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1. Ep. 267 – The Path of Insight: A Q&A on Mindfulness, Joy, and Liberation

   29 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 5 min

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   Joseph Goldstein reflects on the path of insight, the beauty of selflessness, and why retreat is a key part of awakening. Lees meer

   Today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

   This week on Insight Hour, Joseph answers questions on:

   What insight (vipassana) truly means

   Momentary concentration & the path of ‘dry’ insight

   Mudita (sympathetic joy) as a path to ‘moisten’ insight

   Removing our identification with thoughts and emotions

   Experiencing the rapid flow of consciousness itself

   Stories of Dipa Ma and the beauty of selflessness

   The benefit of going on retreats

   Freeing the heart and mind from greed, hatred, and ignorance

   "I found that practicing the mudita was like eating ice cream—it's delicious. What's striking is it may be the hardest one, or, the one we're least practiced in, really cultivating that delight in the happiness of others. When we undertake it as a type of formal practice and cultivate it, it's a totally beautiful quality of mind and it's very uplifting." –Joseph Goldstein

   This talk was given at the Insight Meditation Society and distributed by Dharma Seed

   “I’ve never found anything that touches the depth and the connectedness of when I’m on retreat. We’re really cultivating that awareness and mindfulness as continuously as possible. Whenever I am on retreat I just always have the feeling, ‘this is what I should be doing’. It just feels like the most important thing.” –Joseph Goldstein

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2. Ep. 266 – The Beauty of a Wholesome Mind with Sharon Salzberg

   1 oktober 2026 · 54 min

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   Featuring a Q&A with special guest Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein shares the beauty of having a wholesome mind rather than a mind that clings. Lees meer

   Today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

   This time on Insight Hour, Joseph & Sharon explore:

   How all practice is in service of non-clinging

   Attachment to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant

   Types of speech to avoid: gossip and useless talk

   Speaking in a way that unites people rather than divides them

   Shifting our focus and delighting in positive outcomes

   Seeing the beauty of the dharma, the beauty of a wholesome mind

   Deepening our relationship with ourselves and our emotions

   About Sharon Salzberg:

   Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She is one of the first to bring mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation to mainstream American culture over 45 years ago, inspiring generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers. Sharon is co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and the author of twelve books, including the New York Times bestseller, Real Happiness, now in its second edition, and her seminal work, Lovingkindness. Her podcast, The Metta Hour, has amassed five million downloads and features interviews with thought leaders from the mindfulness movement and beyond. Learn more about Sharon and her books at www.sharonsalzberg.com and check out Insight Meditation Society.

   This talk was given at the Insight Meditation Society and distributed by Dharma Seed

   “I made an experiment for a period of time where I wasn’t going to speak to someone about someone else. 95% of my speech was eliminated. It was astounding to me how much of my speech was about that. It’s not to say that’s never appropriate, or that speaking about others in a certain context is always unskillful, but sometimes it is. The Buddha gave a ve…

3. Ep. 265 – Reflections on Nibbana

   3 september 2026 · 43 min

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   Joseph Goldstein holds two meanings of Nibbana in equal reverence: unconditioned, unformed awareness and a transcendent state in which the mind is free from all defilements. Lees meer

   Today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

   This time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein reveals:

   The Thai forest tradition of Buddhism

   Nibbana: Unconditioned awareness or transcendent awareness?

   The unconditioned mind and the power of zero

   Enlightenment and a mind that is free of defilements

   The analogy of ‘seeing the moon’ rather than the finger that points to it

   Why the experience of Nibbana is so important

   Seeing the intimate connection between wisdom and compassion

   The concept of nonself and our lives as constantly changing phenomena

   The dance between pleasure and suffering

   Check out this episode’s companion essay, Reflections on Nibbana, by Joseph Goldstein

   “One meaning of Nibbana is this unconditioned, unborn, unformed reality. The other meaning of Nibbana refers to the mind that has been freed of defilements—the mind that is free of greed, hatred, and delusion. We could describe the state of a fully enlightened being in which these defilements have been uprooted as Nibbana.” –Joseph Goldstein

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4. Ep. 264 – Exploring Nibbana

   30 juli 2026 · 38 min

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   Joseph Goldstein reveals how Nibbana differs from blissful meditation states and why true liberation lies beyond every conditioned experience. Lees meer

   Today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

   This week on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein discusses:

   How Nibbana has made its way into Western culture

   Expectation and striving versus having a healthy goal

   Having an aspiration and direction for our practice

   Using equanimity to differentiate beautiful experiences from true glimpses of Nibbana

   The Abhidhamma and understanding the factors of mind which color our consciousness

   The experience of Nibbana as the experience of zero, the stilling of all formations

   How Nibbana uproots the defilements in stages

   Check out this episode’s companion essay, Reflections on Nibbana, by Joseph Goldstein

   “Even exalted states of mind or great powers of mind do not imply purification of mind. That is the particular power of Nibbana.” –Joseph Goldstein

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5. Ep. 263 – The Certainty of Direct Experience: Q&A + Guided Practice

   2 juli 2026 · 1 uur

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   Touching into the selfless nature of experience, Joseph Goldstein explores uprooting the defilements through the clarity that comes from practice. Lees meer

   Today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

   This time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein provides his perspective on:

   Engaging with mindfulness

   The radical uprooting of self and identification with experience

   Seeing a glimpse of the deathless in our practice versus the transcendent moment of the unborn

   Slowly seeing clearly over time with dedicated practice

   The emptiness within the defilements

   Taking all things as an invitation to explore rather than to believe

   A brief guided meditation with Joseph

   Moving our mental dialogue into a passive voice

   This episode is the 3rd and final part of a 3-part series. It was originally published on Dharmaseed and recorded at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, a non-profit organization founded by renowned meditation teachers Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg to integrate Buddhist study and practice. To start at the beginning, check out Ep. 261 – Gradual Cultivation in Buddhist Practice.

   “If you put your hand in fire, do you know that it burns? Do you have any doubt about it? In the genuine experience of things being uprooted, there is that quality of certainty. It is very different than what you were saying about ‘Yeah, it looks to me that the defilements are uprooted.’ The experience that results in the uprooting, which is the experience of the unborn. It has that same immediacy and certainty as putting your hand in fire and knowing it burns.” –Joseph Goldstein

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6. Ep. 262 – Letting Thoughts Dissolve

   10 juni 2026 · 34 min

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   Joseph Goldstein investigates the not-so-obvious delight of seeing our own arrogance (Māna), and the balance of knowing ultimate truth while living with a functional sense of “I.” Lees meer

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   Today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

   This week on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein discusses:

   Realizing the truth of non-self while still having an underlying feeling of ‘I am”

   The Buddhist concept of Māna, which can be translated as "pride", "arrogance", or "conceit"

   Our tendency to project the past into the future

   Recognizing Māna for what it is and letting the thoughts dissolve

   How the residue of ‘I’ and ‘self’ can fall away during practice

   Engaging the self just enough to live in the relative world

   This episode is the 2nd part of a 3-part series. It was originally published on Dharmaseed and recorded at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, a non-profit organization founded by renowned meditation teachers Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg to integrate Buddhist study and practice. To start at the beginning, check out Ep. 261 – Gradual Cultivation in Buddhist Practice

   “These days, I am totally delighted when I see Māna arise in my mind…one of the reasons I am delighted is that I would much rather see it than not see it to recognize 'that’s Māna', instead of not recognizing it and being caught up and identified with that pattern. Just the seeing of it is freeing.” –Joseph Goldstein

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7. Ep. 261 – Gradual Cultivation in Buddhist Practice

   8 mei 2026 · 42 min

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   Joseph Goldstein explores gradual cultivation, highlighting that even if we are suddenly awakened, we still must have an ongoing practice to work with hindrances and ingrained habits. Lees meer

   This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

   This week on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein discusses:

   The areas of life where clinging shows up most

   How clinging to sensory pleasures is so embedded in our culture

   Lightening up for enlightenment and not taking ourselves so seriously

   How a sense of humor can benefit our practice

   Unhelpful attachment to view and opinion

   The unity of clarity and emptiness (self-existing wakefulness)

   The Buddhist meaning of unborn/unformed

   Uprooting of the view of self with the understanding that there is still more work to do

   Having an ongoing, gradual cultivation of skillful means

   This episode was originally published on Dharmaseed and recorded at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, a non-profit organization founded by renowned meditation teachers Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg to integrate Buddhist study and practice.

   “Very often, people can have genuine realization and have a really deep understanding, and then get attached to that as if everything is done. So very often these folks can get engaged in skillful behavior, thinking it’s all coming from their deep realization, it’s really coming from all the work that still needs to be done.” –Joseph Goldstein

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8. Ep. 260 – The Union of Relative and Ultimate Truth

   9 april 2026 · 40 min

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   Continuing his exploration of selflessness, Joseph Goldstein helps listeners live in the balance of both relative and ultimate truth. Lees meer

   This episode is a continuation of a talk that started in episode 259, "Selflessness, Dukkha, and Freedom."

   This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

   This time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein discusses:

   The impersonal nature of experiencing peace

   Seeing with consciousness rather than with the subjective mind

   Reframing the language of experience with a passive voice

   Being fully present in the moment without identification

   Understanding death and dying as the natural flow of impermanence

   Having an easeful mind even when the body is afflicted

   Understanding both relative and ultimate truth

   The wonderful and joyful practice of generosity

   This episode was recorded at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and originally published on Dharmaseed

   “We work to understand the dynamics of our conventional reality and all the challenges of it, even as we understand the essential selfless nature of it all. This is really the heart of a mature spiritual practice, the union of these two, not the separation." –Joseph Goldstein

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9. Ep. 259 – Selflessness, Dukkha, and Freedom

   13 maart 2026 · 48 min

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   Unpacking the Buddha’s notions of self and nonself, transience and suffering, Joseph Goldstein leads listeners into the heart of liberation. Lees meer

   This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

   This time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein illuminates:

   Why the Buddha paid so much attention to the concept of self

   How a felt sense of self traps us in desire and attachment

   Seeing the term ‘self’ as a designation rather than something that exists in and of itself

   Slight adjustments to our language during practice: ‘the body breathes’ rather than ‘my breath’

   Using the template of The Five Aggregates to describe experience

   Genuine experiences of momentary peace as a peak into Nirvana

   Taking an interest into the landscapes of our own minds

   Transience and the way that things are always becoming otherwise

   The ungovernability of the mind, the body, and all aspects of reality

   How selflessness can lead to both Dukkha and freedom

   This episode was recorded at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and originally published on Dharmaseed

   "As long as we are caught up, identified, and entangled in the view of self, then we spend our lives defending it, gratifying it, grandiosing it, judging it; we have all these responses that come out of this felt sense of the self." –Joseph Goldstein

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10. Ep. 258 – The Goal Without the Grasp: Aspiration in Buddhist Practice

    5 februari 2026 · 31 min

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    Distinguishing aspiration from striving with ego, Joseph Goldstein gives listeners permission to have a sense of purpose along their spiritual path. Lees meer

    This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

    This week on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein discusses:

    Having a sense of purpose within the impersonal nature of all things

    Aspiration: understanding why we are practicing

    What the Buddha said about purpose and aspiration on The Eightfold Path

    Seeing the world objectively without reference to the self

    Being a great faith follower versus a dharma follower

    Resting in our practice and letting go of unhealthy striving

    Insight Meditation Society and its commitment to diversity

    Maintaining the right attitude and openness to all experiences

    This episode was recorded at the Insight Meditation Society Forest Refuge and originally published on Dharmaseed

    "The Buddha definitely laid out a goal. The Eightfold Path leads someplace—it's not just meandering around, not going any place. The Eightfold path is leading to awakening, to enlightenment. We can have that aspiration which sets the direction for our practice, we can say that is a sense of purpose, but we're seeing it not so much in terms of an egoful striving, but a realization of our values and what leads to the accomplishment of our values." – Joseph Goldstein

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